As many as 50 species of birds were observed in the district on the second day of a bird survey held as part of the Kerala Bird Atlas Project on Sunday.
The species spotted include a common sandpiper, ruddy crake, black-headed ibis, and stork-billed kingfisher, the largest among kingfishers in the country.
The bird atlas aims at collecting data on birds and identifying critical habitats. It is being held in two phases – wet season survey and dry season.
The wet season survey, which will cover 158 sub-cells, began on a rainy note on Saturday, with 15 species being spotted in the city.
On Sunday, teams led by expert birders Jaichand Johnson, A.K. Sivakumar, Sujith V. Gopalan, C.G. Arun, K.B. Sanjayan, M.B. Ramesh, G. Govind, and Neha Waikar covered sub-cells at seven locations in the district.
The places surveyed included Attingal, Nedumangad, Vilappil, Vattiyurkavu, Poonkulam, Venganoor, and parts of the city such as Veli.
Habitat loss
Habitat loss owing to drastic alteration in land use pattern was observed to be a major threat in most places. Heavy rain during the observation period in the morning played spoilsport yet again.
The survey, supported by the Social Forestry Wing of State Forests & Wildlife Department, is being conducted jointly by the WWF-India and the Travancore Natural History Society.
The bird atlas aims at collecting data on birds and identifying critical habitats of
the avian fauna.
